Sports writer for The Age

Collingwood legend Tony Shaw has slammed Essendon coach Mark Thompson’s emotional call for the public to “back the boys” in their fight to clear their names from the stigma of drug cheating.

Shaw said he could not understand why Thompson would urge the public or media to support the players facing possible infraction notices, saying Thompson - and the Essendon administration - were to blame for the players' situation.

He also added his name to the growing list of commentators who believe James Hird should not be allowed to coach the Bombers next year, and called for Thompson and others involved in the regime during 2012 to also walk away from the club.

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Shaw said he believed the public had treated the players with sympathy throughout the long-running saga, and that it was the club that needed to take responsibility for its treatment of the players.

“I think he [Thompson] was sincere in his emotions at the press conference the other day when he nearly shed a tear and he said ‘let’s back the boys’,” Shaw said on 3AW on Sunday.

“But to me, I don’t think anybody – from Essendon supporters down to any other supporter group from any other club – thinks that the players are totally to blame. They might have been naive, trusting, whatever it was," he said.

“The people to blame, Bomber, are the people behind the scenes like yourself.

“...I just think to come out now and say let’s back the boys in this court case, it doesn’t make sense to me.

“To come out with the tears, and say ‘lets feel for the boys', everybody feels for the players. No one is blaming the players, it’s the administration.

"You got them there in the first place – not just you [Thompson] – but that whole organisation.”

Thompson replaced Hird who, despite receiving a 12-month suspension from the AFL, was given a contract extension and a year's salary as he flew overseas to study.

With the Bombers set to challenge the legality of the joint AFL-ASADA investigation that produced the “show cause” notices to 34 players last week, Thompson on Saturday declared the club had now made the players the “No.1 priority”, and urged the public and media to do the same.

“Everyone has been saying that the players have been the No.1 priority, well, you know what? Now they are. Let’s try and work for them,” Thompson said.

He then looked at the reporters around him and said: "And it should be reported that way – if it was your brother or sister or son or daughter – how would you feel? Please, come on.”

It remains unclear what position, if any, Thompson will hold at Essendon in 2015.

Shaw, the Pies' 1990 premiership captain, said he did not think anybody in a position of authority at Essendon during the 2012 period should remain at the club.

“Anybody who was involved in that program, whether you were an administrator, coach, whoever was involved ... and some people have already left the club ... I don’t think they should be involved in AFL football ever again,” he said.